I hope you all had a wonderful month and are maybe looking forward to also treating yourself for Halloween before it’s time to gear up for the gift-giving season! This past week Taka and I took the week off for the most part to celebrate our 6 year anniversary (since getting engaged!) and did small things to enjoy ourselves. One day we went to the art museum to enjoy a new exhibit of Hokusai’s work, one of the ukiyo e greats and probably the most famous of the bunch. Another day, after dropping off some wholesale orders to some local shops and tried out Kilig, a new Filipino restaurant that opened up earlier this month.

Another day, we went to the Kyoto Antique market which only happens twice a year here in Seattle. Taka even got a gorgeous original painting by one of the students of Ito Jakuchu, one his favorite Nihonga masters. At first Taka was a little unsure if it was as valuable being one of Jakuchu’s student’s work, but I reminded Taka that whereas his tebori master is a world-famous master, Taka’s skill, in my truly unbiased opinion, actually exceeds that of his own master as well. Just because someone isn’t famous (yet) doesn’t mean their skill is any less! This photo below is essentially the image he purchased, though it was painted with pigments that seem to include mica because there was almost a glittery sheen to the hydrangeas and is affixed to an aged scroll. Considering the painting with scroll is over 250 years old and still very intact, rolls out to probably about 10 ft tall with the scroll, and is an ORIGINAL, he got an incredible deal on it since reproduction prints alone can go for over $250 when I checked online! :o

And finally, to round out our week of mostly rest, we also got massages at a local masseuse we wanted to try out. Their facility isn’t anything fancy at all, but they definitely are way more affordable than the “spa” type places and have late hours which is good for us since we work round the clock most the time, sleeping in the earlier parts of the day. As we get older, though still pretty young, it’s been my goal that we find ways to afford the care we need for our joints and muscles. It pains me that society doesn’t push for more maintenance on the human body for how much it pushes us to work harder. Since this masseuse is skilled and affordable, I’m aiming to have us go in at least once a month even if insurance doesn’t cover it. We also started going to acupuncture and I’ll probably clock in some more visits to the chiro since those two services are covered by insurance up to 10 visits a year. I pay so much for our health insurance, so I figure we ought to use what we can since they don’t do much else for us. :/

Anyways, let’s get on with the previews for November, shall we? :)

PRETTY WINKERS: PS

First up, we have beautiful Setsuna with sweet bby Diana and the “assistant” to Professor Tomoe, Kaorinite. I’m thinking of naming her “Not Your Real Mom” as the backing card in reference to how much Hotaru hates her. Is that messed up? 🤣🙈 To be honest, both Setsuna & Kaorinite are sort of motherly figures for the two besties, Chibiusa & Hotaru.

Setsuna is definitely a softer, more nurturing type and was both Chibiusa’s playmate in the future, and then Hotaru’s second “mama” when Hotaru was reborn. Kaorinite definitely interacted with Chibiusa and was somewhat protective of Hotaru, even if it wasn’t because she really cared for Hotaru, so much as wanted to please Professor Tomoe. I did tease Taka a little for making their poses similar this month, but I think it’s ok since most likely they’ll be paired in people’s collections with other characters than each other. Setsuna’s design has her wearing her sort of sexy, but casual black house clothes that she has in the final manga arc, though holding Diana in reference to their relationship in the future in the second manga arc. Diana is winking too, so you get a twofer this time! :p I wanted us to do her house clothes because most of her other outfits (and she doesn’t get too many) are more formal office lady type outfits.

PRETTY WINKERS: SG

I understand there’s not too much love for Nausicaa as one of the older Ghibli films, but I still wanted to do at least one pin of her since it’s a classic and one of Taka’s favorites. I’ve already nearly finished vectoring the linework for it with a few adjustments from this sketch. Although Nausicaa doesn’t get a lot of attention, I think the message is incredibly important, as most of Miyazaki’s messages are about the damage humans cause to our beautiful planet. After this month, I’ll be moving onto Princess Mononoke (which I already have sketched out) for a few characters and then begin the long process of Howl’s Moving Castle for the majority of 2024 ‘cause there are so many beloved characters!

MOUJUU CLUB

November we are going back to another cute animal, the ezo momonga, a white Japanese (siberian) flying squirrel. I’m simplifying the design a little to be a little more kawaii, but this design will be so cute to wear and just in time for winter season since these little guys come from Siberia originally and are based primarily in Hokkaido which is very, very cold! If you look them up, they’re just the cutest with a sort of soft white/grey fur. I thought this design will also be super cute to sort of pin halfway into a breast pocket so it looks like it’s peeking out! I’m definitely going to be decorating my jacket like that when we get it in stock.

Alternately, even if you don’t make it all the way up to Hokkaido, if you ever visit Mt. Takao or other more natural wooded areas near Tokyo, you can even see the little shadows as they fly above of their non-siberian family of flying squirrel as well!

We hope you like November’s designs and are looking forward to a strong finish in December! Thank you all for continuing to support us even through this rough year! I know it’s been tough on so many, including us, so it means so much to see you all believing in us every month. Please take care of yourselves and I’ll have more to post in a few days!